


Princesses don't cry

by Emerald_Alex



Series: The one where we're in Highschool [1]
Category: DC's Legends of Tomorrow (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Angst, By Carys, Hurt No Comfort, I LOVE HER SO MUCH, Influencer Zari, Loneliness, Soldiering On, Song : Princesses don't cry, Songfic, Zari Tomaz | Zari Tarazi-Centric, Zari is a businesswoman and a badass bitch, dragon girl
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-22
Updated: 2020-07-22
Packaged: 2021-03-04 19:35:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,593
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25441750
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Emerald_Alex/pseuds/Emerald_Alex
Summary: Her name is Zari Tarzi, she has 14 billion followers and she doesn’t have friends. It's fine. (not really)
Series: The one where we're in Highschool [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1842751
Comments: 2
Kudos: 2





	Princesses don't cry

**Author's Note:**

> Hello and welcome ! This Songfic is the first work in a bigger HighSchool Alternative Universe for the Legends (And Arrowverse in general). It's more of a character introduction than an actual story, those will come later. But it can be read alone.  
> Also I love Zari 2.0 (more than the first one but I feel like I'm the only one...) so here is a fit only for her !  
> Enjoy !

Boys. They're handsome and strong  
But always the first to tell me I'm wrong  
Boys try to tame me, I know  
They tell me I'm weird and won't let it go

Her boyfriend is cheating on her. To be fair she always knew. She has seen the looks between him and Les-Lay. She always ignored it. Call it denial or a business decision, it doesn’t really matter. The point is she filled it away and went on. Almost forgetting about it. Except she just walked in them kissing. She didn’t have a choice so she confronted him. He denied it all. He said he just wanted to become better at kissing for her. He said it was all for her. She’s walking home right now, after leaving without saying anything. She feels empty, hollow. She can hear someone calling out for her. No idea if it’s a fan or a friend. To be fair she doesn’t have friends, just a court. Power hungry harpies who stay with her because of the status she brings. The realisation feels like a cold fact. She knows it’s going to hurt afterwards but right now, nothing. Just a fact. Her name is Zari Tarzi, she has 14 billion followers and she doesn’t have friends.

No, I'm fine  
I'm lying on the floor again  
Cracked door  
I always wanna let you in  
Even after all of this shit  
I'm resilient

She’s home. Finally. The door closes behind her. She walks silently toward the kitchen counter where her parents left a note saying she and her brother are alone tonight. Then one of Behrad saying he’s at a party. Spending the evening alone is fine. At least she won’t have to talk to anyone. Who is she kidding ? She’s alone, there’s no one to lie to. She desperately wants to be surrounded by her family right now. She wants to hear her mother complain about the neighbours. She wants to listen to her father’s old proverbs that mean nothing to no one. She wants to have silent discussion with her brother about how her parents are crazy just by exchanging a few looks. But she can’t. She’s all alone. Even if they were here she couldn’t have that perfect evening. Because her parents are ashamed of how superficial she is. Because she doesn’t remember the last time she actually spent time with her brother. So yeah Zari Tarazi, all alone. She hates it and she wants people close to her but it feels more and more impossible. 

Cause a princess doesn't cry (no)  
A princess doesn't cry (no-o)  
Over monsters in the night  
Don't waste our precious time  
On boys with pretty eyes

She doesn’t have time to mope. She has work to do. So what if her family think her shallow ? So what if her friend has been lying to her ? So what if her boyfriend is cheating on her ? She won’t spend time being sad about them. She picks herself up, prepares something to eat and opens all of her social accounts. She spends the entire evening answering questions, interacting with fans and replying to trolls on ClapChat. She feels less alone, surrounded by all the love her fans have for her. She even tears up a little when a little girl sends her a big and long message thanking her, because seeing a famous muslim girl has made her a lot more confident. So she sends her a video, instead of just a text or a like. She loves being able to help people like that, to inspire them to feel better in their skin. And yeah, she loves the attention, she likes feeling everybody looking at her. People can go fuck themselves if they find her narcissistic. 

A princess doesn't cry (no)  
A princess doesn't cry (no-o)  
Burning like a fire  
You feel it all inside  
But wipe your teary eyes

She loves her job, she really does. She wouldn’t sacrifice so much for it if she didn’t. But she wishes she could get meaningful relationships on top of it. She loves her fans but that’s all they are : fans. Not friends. They don’t know all of her, they only know a crafted version of her, a perfect balance of real and perfected. And that’s fine, it’s her work, her source of income. Where an accountable would use numbers, she used her own image. She wasn’t just a pretty face or a shallow instagrammer, she was a businesswoman. It was fine but it was so lonely. It hurted so much, as if someone was trying to gouge out her heart with a spoon. She could feel a physical pain from the emptiness in her chest. 

Cause princesses don't cry  
Don't cry, don't cry, oh  
Cause princesses don't cry

When she’s done eating, she sits to study. Because of her many travels, events, photo shoots and all the videos she has to film, she is starting to get behind her schoolwork. It’s fine. It keeps her mind busy. She doesn’t have time to think about anything except geography and maths. After a while she compartmentalized well enough to just focus on the last selfie she posted, on her skin care routine, on preparing her clothes for tomorrow, on planning her schedule. 

She doesn’t break-up with her boyfriend. 

Girls so pretty and poised and soft to the touch  
But God made me rough  
Girls, so heavy the crown  
They carry it tall, but it's weighing me down

At school she smiles, answers sarcastically and glamorously lives. She ignores her boyfriend and her best friend just enough that it’s not apparent from the outside. Her makeup is flawless and took one hour to put on. Her hair is up in a half updo made out of braids and a bun that took her another hour to make, not a hair out of place while still cascading on her shoulders. High heels and tastefully assorted colors that took half an hour of reflection. Once again her image is carefully crafted to be perfect. She has an event today, to collect money for female education in Mali. She doesn’t have the time to deal with her boyfriend. She needs to look perfect for the photographs. So they appear like a perfect couple, happy, smiling and cool. Perfect. Everybody is fooled. It’s fine, she soldiers on. 

No, I'm fine  
I'm lying on the floor again  
Cracked door  
You're only going to let them in once  
And you won't come undone

They have to talk, she knows it. He is a popular DJ and being a couple gives them more power in the public eye. He is not as famous as her, just enough that he doesn’t outshine her while still giving her popularity in demographics she doesn’t normally reach with her usual content. On a business level she has to stay with him. She doesn’t want to, not really : he is an entitled idiot who doesn’t have a single empathetic bone in his body. He doesn’t begin to understand her and he doesn’t even try. He doesn’t care about all the militant aspects of her work. But they agree to stay together, they agree to date on the side as long as it stays a secret, for both their sake. He may be an idiot but he knows how much his popularity rests on his reputation. It’s fine. That’s what she wanted. 

Cause a princess doesn't cry (no)  
A princess doesn't cry (no-o)  
Over monsters in the night  
Don't waste our precious time  
On boys with pretty eyes  
A princess doesn't cry (no)  
A princess doesn't cry (no-o)  
Burning like a fire  
You feel it all inside  
But wipe your teary eyes  
Cause princesses don't cry  
Don't cry, don't cry

She goes back home. Everybody is here this time. Her mother is complaining about their next door neighbor who adopted a new bird that makes too much noise. Her father tells her to let the waves made by the fast boat break at the bottom of the cliff. Behrad laughs and everything feels perfect. But he doesn’t look at her. No silent conversation, no hidden laugh. He doesn’t even raise his head when she jokingly asks where her dad found that proverb. Her heart feels heavy. Everything gets worse when the only answer she gets is that she wouldn’t find it on her phone. She doesn’t have time to answer as her mother brings the conversation on how amazing it is that Behrad got a good grade in economy and how bold he was in creating a pretend business for said grade. Zari doesn’t bother saying she’s been a businesswoman for the last 4 years or that she learned everything herself. It wouldn’t matter anyway, they would just find her narcissistic. It’s fine. She starts thinking and planning her next video. 

Cause princesses don't cry  
I'm fine, I won't waste my time  
Keep it in a jar, and we'll leave it for the next one  
Yeah I'm fine, I won't waste my time  
Keep it in a jar, and we'll leave it for the next one

Days go by, things stay the same. As her popularity grows so does her loneliness. The bitter taste in her mouth, the stab wound in her back also grows every time she sees them together. She’s perfect. Queen bee of the school and of ClapChat. Epitome of style and put-togetherness. Like an idol in a temple, adored but alone. It’s fine. She prepares her next event. 

Yeah  
I'm fine I'm lying on the floor again

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed it,
> 
> With Love,
> 
> Alex.
> 
> P.S.: links for the various crises happening in the world, and don't forget to vote come November!  
> Black Lives Matter petitions, donations, and other resources here: https://t.co/ScNVY4VxD2?amp=1  
> If you can't donate, here's a youtube playlist where all proceeds from the videos are being donated to various BLM charities: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLlhfJSrlPNthnoD1XFDHzmdf6Mpt2pe-2&feature=share  
> Yemen Crisis links here: https://yemencrisis.carrd.co/  
> COVID-19 and others (U.S. Specific) here: https://www.acf.hhs.gov/otip/news/covid-19-resources-services-support


End file.
